This invention generally relates to exercise equipment and in particular to exercise treadmills.
Exercise treadmills are widely used for performing walking or running aerobic-type exercise while the user remains in a relatively stationary position. In addition exercise treadmills are used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Generally, for all of these purposes, the person on the treadmill performs an exercise routine at a relatively steady and continuous level of physical activity. One example of such a treadmill is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,897.
Although exercise treadmills have reached a relatively high state of development, there are a number of significant improvements in the mechanical structure of a treadmill that can improve the user""s exercise experience as well improve the maintainability and reduce the cost of manufacture of treadmills.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an exercise treadmill having an improved mechanical arrangement.
It is also an object of the invention to provide an exercise treadmill with an upwardly curving center handlebar that allows the user to grasp the handlebar at a number of different heights and provides additional knee room for a user running on the treadmill.
An additional object of the invention is to provide an exercise treadmill with a pair of side hand rails where the rear portions flair outwardly.
Another object of the invention is to provide an exercise treadmill with pivoting rear legs.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an exercise treadmill having a snap-in accessory tray.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a removable overlay over certain portions of a treadmill control panel such as a key pad.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a treadmill having a control panel that includes user controls with an auxiliary control panel having a subset of the user controls.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a housing covering a treadmill frame with an access panel to provide ready access to various components of the treadmill including in some treadmills components of a belt lubrication system.
Additionally, it is an object of the invention to provide a treadmill belt lubrication system, where a lubricant such as wax is sprayed on the belt from a nozzle, with a mechanism for spraying a priming pulse of the lubricant through the nozzle of the system prior to the normal belt spraying operation of the system. Operation of the lubrication system can be enhance by utilizing treadmill operating criteria to both schedule belt lubrications and to sequence the actual lubrication process including the priming pulse.
A further object of the invention is to provide an exercise treadmill having a control panel having support ribs formed from gas-assist molded injected plastic.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a treadmill with a belt having a pre-glazed surface.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an exercise treadmill having a motor connected to a pulley for moving a belt where the motor is secured to the frame of the treadmill by a mounting structure that includes resilient members to isolate the frame from motor vibration.
A further object of the invention is to provide an exercise treadmill with a double sided deck having its under side covered by a protective tape to protect the waxed surface.